Some of the top college tennis players in the country are heading to Elm Grove and Glendale this weekend for a tournament that has quietly run for half a century. The Milwaukee Tennis Classic celebrates its 50th anniversary September 11-13, with matches split between the Western Racquet Club in Elm Grove and the Nicolet Tennis Center in Glendale.
Founded in 1975 by former Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire and Milwaukee attorney Chas Mulcahy, the tournament is now considered one of the nation's longest-running collegiate tennis tournaments, according to BizTimes. It's presented in collaboration with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the governing body of NCAA college tennis, and this weekend's field includes men's and women's teams from schools including Marquette, Notre Dame, TCU, Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma and the U.S. Naval Academy. Mulcahy said the event welcomes exceptional college tennis players from throughout the United States, per the same report.
Mulcahy said organizers were proud, honored and humbled to reach the half-century milestone, according to BizTimes. Past champions have included players from UCLA, USC, North Carolina, Cal, Stanford, Tennessee and Virginia, among other programs, reflecting the tournament's decades of pulling in top-tier Division I talent.
A Founder Honored for Fifty Years of Service
Mulcahy's role in building the tournament recently earned him recognition beyond Milwaukee. In August, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association named him the recipient of the 2026 ITA Jon Vegosen Chairman's Award, honoring his lifetime service to college tennis and community outreach, according to We Are College Tennis. Mulcahy played as Marquette's No. 1 singles player from 1957 to 1959 before co-founding the tournament in 1975.
The tournament's roots trace back to a modest debut. The inaugural Milwaukee Tennis Classic took place on December 28, 1975, at Marquette University's Helfaer Tennis and Recreation Center, per the tournament's own account.
Wildcards, Naval Ties and a National Stage
As an ITA Gold Level Event, the Milwaukee Tennis Classic awards its men's and women's singles champions wildcard entries into the ITA National Fall Championships, an individual postseason event in college tennis. The tournament also reserves two men's and two women's wildcard spots specifically for midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy tennis program.
That military connection extended well beyond Milwaukee's borders in 2020, when Chas Mulcahy co-founded the San Diego Veterans Tennis Classic in partnership with the University of San Diego and the U.S. Naval Academy, celebrating San Diego's military heritage and supporting veterans organizations and community partners.
Scholarships and Community Roots
Beyond the competition, the tournament is built around civic traditions that go back decades. Local tennis families host the visiting collegiate players in their homes for the duration of the tournament, and the event provides scholarships to young people from underserved areas of Greater Milwaukee through the Al Hurvis/ADAMM Education Foundation. Scholarship eligibility considers academics, financial need, leadership, activities and community service, and recipients attend the Milwaukee Area Technical College and other area technical colleges.
Last year, the tournament awarded 13 scholarships totaling $26,000, according to BizTimes. The tournament also presents annual men's and women's sportsmanship awards named for Mulcahy to players who demonstrate exemplary sportsmanship on and off the court.
From Grassroots Event to NIL Pioneer
The tournament maintains records of past champions.
The Milwaukee Tennis Classic's history stretches back five decades, from a single newspaper sponsorship to a weekend bringing college tennis to Greater Milwaukee. Local tennis fans in Elm Grove and Glendale will get to see that history and innovation collide on court this weekend as the Milwaukee Tennis Classic marks 50 years of bringing college tennis to Greater Milwaukee.
